Month: July 2014

A dental implant is replacement of tooth root. It is placed into the jaw to hold a denture. Tooth roots are implanted to people who have lost teeth due to injury or periodontal diseases.

Types of Implants

Subperiostal dental implants are mounted on the jaw top with metal reinforcements protruding through gums to hold prosthesis in place. These kind of implants are suitable for patients who minimal bone height.

Endosteal dental implants include screws, blades and cylinders are placed on the jaw. The implants hold one or more dentures. Endosteal implants are used by patients with removable dentures.

The Dental Implant Procedure

First is the soft tissue where an incision is made on bone crest and the gingival is split to make two flaps of tissues where the jaw bone is exposed.

Second step is the high speed drilling. Drills are regulated at high speed to prevent burning to make holes. Care is taken not overheat the bone. Overheating can result in damage of the bone cells.

Third step is the low speed drilling whereby the initial holes are expanded using bigger drills.

Fourth step is the actual implanting. The implant is screwed with a drill into place. It needs to be precise not to damage the jaw bone.

Benefits of Dental Implants

Clearer speech – A mouth with poorly-fitted dentures usually causes slurring and mumbling of words when speaking. Good dental implants will keep dentures firmly in place to make a person speak without worry.

Eating – Poorly held dentures lead to poor chewing due to sliding. Due to the fact that they do work like normal teeth roots, dental implants allow painless eating.

Appearance – Implants feel like normal teeth roots. They are designed to stay permanently and they feel like original teeth.

Durability – Implants last for a very long time. When they are taken care of, they will last for a lifetime.

Cancer doesn’t just happen out of blue. While being diagnosed is a massive shock for anyone, there has to be a pre-existing condition present in the body for a tumour to grow from. There are common conditions that can be a signifier or warning sign for cancer later in life. While they aren’t life threatening, knowing about them can be a great help if you’re worried they could lead to cancer. Here are the most common conditions people look out for.

Breast Calcifications

Calcium is important for the bones, but women can often find that they have a deposit of calcium in their breast tissue. While this isn’t harmful in itself, making sure that any calcium in the tissue isn’t hiding harmful cells is important. These deposits are examined thoroughly with help from a mammogram. A radiologist will examine the size, shape and way is which a calcification is sitting. If it is seen that the cells around the shape are benign, then there is nothing to worry about. If the shape is distorted, then a female may need further scans and a possible biopsy to make sure the tissue isn’t cancerous. In most cases it won’t be, and even when it is, the cancer from the calcification is DCIS which is a very small form of cancer that can be easily treated.

Bone Marrow Problems

There are two conditions surrounding bone marrow that can be signals someone has cancer: myelodysplasia and myelofibrosis . Myelodysplasia is a condition where the bone marrow someone has is slightly abnormal. As with most pre cancer conditions it is more prevalent with older patients, but it can occur at any age. It is essentially where the cells in your blood aren’t as healthy as they should be and drag down the strength of the immune system, a key component in fighting any cancer. Myelofibrosis is similar but affects the bone marrow by creating scar tissue in areas where it shouldn’t exist. It causes the body to react in a way that can’t create a high enough level of blood cells. Less blood cells leaves tissue more prone to attack.

MGUS

MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance) is a condition where the body creates a protein that isn’t needed. This protein is useless and doesn’t cause any harm for the majority of people who have MGUS. The risk is carries though are linked to lymphoma as MGUS confuses plasma cells that make white blood cells that are necessary for fighting off infection.

Essential Thrombocythemia

Quite a tongue twister to say, ET is a condition where too many platelets are created and pushed in to the blood stream. While this isn’t necessarily harmful, it can create benign tumours that require chemotherapy to be removed. Someone with ET can expect to feel symptoms like headaches and dizziness for prolonged period. It’s important to get it treated as a continual growth of blood clots could lead to abnormal cell growth and the creation of a tumour.